Middle Chinese

system of Chinese pronunciation contained in the Qieyun (used in the Northern and Southern dynasties, Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty)

Fanqie is a method used in traditional Chinese lexicography to indicate the pronunciation of a monosyllabic character by using two other characters, one with the same initial consonant as the desired syllable and one in which the rest of the syllable (the final) matches. The method was introduced in the 3rd century AD and is to some extent still used in commentaries on the classics and dictionaries.

The Qieyun () is a Chinese rhyme dictionary that was published in 601 during the Sui dynasty. The book was a guide to proper reading of classical texts, using the fanqie method to indicate the pronunciation of Chinese characters. The Qieyun and later redactions, notably the Guangyun, are important documentary sources used in the reconstruction of historical Chinese phonology.

thumb|right|upright=2|The beginning of the first rhyme group of the Guangyun, with first character 東 ("east")

ancient type of Chinese dictionary that collates characters by tone and rhyme

The Jiyun (Chi-yun; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary published in 1037 during the Song dynasty. The chief editor Ding Du (丁度) and others expanded and revised the Guangyun. It is possible, according to Teng and Biggerstaff (1971:147), that Sima Guang completed the text in 1067. The Jiyun has 53,525 character entries (Teng & Biggerstaff, 1971: 147), approximately twice as many as the Guangyun, and likewise has 206 rime groups.

tonal system of Middle Chinese, vestiges of which survive in modern Chinese languages

thumb|Ming dynasty 1492 reprint of the Yupian thumb|300px|Vol. 27 of the Yupian in Ishiyama-dera, [[Ōtsu, Japan (facsimile)]] The Yupian (; "Jade Chapters") is a c. 543 Chinese dictionary edited by Gu Yewang (顧野王; Ku Yeh-wang; 519–581) during the Liang dynasty. It arranges 12,158 character entries under 542 radicals, which differ somewhat from the original 540 in the Shuowen Jiezi. Each character entry gives a fanqie pronunciation gloss and a definition, with occasional annotation.

Linguistic feature

syllable chart of the Chinese language

book by Bernhard Karlgren

historical rhyming system for Middle Chinese

vocabulary originating from Chinese in other languages (e.g. Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese)

romanisation of Chinese table

Chinese scholar (1810-1882)

Chinese linguist

The Yunjing is one of the two oldest existing examples of a Chinese rime table – a series of charts which arrange Chinese characters in large tables according to their tone and syllable structures to indicate their proper pronunciations. Current versions of the Yunjing date to AD 1161 and 1203 editions published by Zhang Linzhi (). The original author(s) and date of composition of the Yunjing are unknown. Some of its elements, such as certain choices in its ordering, reflect features particular to the Tang dynasty, but no conclusive proof of an actual date of composition has yet been found.

Chinese exegetical dictionary (c. 583)